Through laboratory experiments on the fruit fly Drosophila, a model organism for magnetic field sensing, researchers found that the flies can imprint, or learn and remember, a magnetic field associated with a specific location and transmit the imprint of the magnetic field to offspring; the authors suggest that such transgenerational geomagnetic imprinting could help lead fruit flies to favorable areas for foraging and reproduction, among other functions.
Article #19-14106: "Behavioral evidence for geomagnetic imprinting and transgenerational inheritance in fruit flies," by In-Taek Oh et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Kwon-Seok Chae, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, SOUTH KOREA; Tel: 82-53-950-5915; e-mail: kschae@knu.ac.kr
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Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences